Werewolves. We love them right? They are the original gangsta staple for what we know, live and breathe in horror besides Vampires, Frankensteins and Zombies. Now we have tons of variations of werewolves and vampires, new plagues wiping out civilizations and giant all the steady cam horror we can get. But I have something to admit, its hugely embarrassing and I’m not ashamed to say it. I slept in my parents bed until I was 10 for two reasons, one was the clown doll from Poltergeist and the other was David, the American Werewolf in London. I’ll never forget his transformation scene, scary me batshit crazy until my early adolescence. Now I look back and while they certainly don’t scare me anymore, I was petrified, but later on I will reveal strangely enough a werewolf that took his place when I was 7 or 8 as the most terrifying Werewolf. While the old school transformations looked more realistic, some of the digital renderings are getting there finally. No bullshit American Werewolves in Paris where 2 cartoon dogs are fighting it out, no, now special effects have brought us to Lycans.

10) Fright Night– Evil Ed, Charlie’s BFF gets bitten by a vampire, and when he becomes a full wolf, werewolf, is impaled by Peter Vincent. On his death knell however he is returning back to human form as a very disturbing and sadly dying wolfwere. The sounds he makes to this day send chills up my spine.

9)The Wolfman- The original Wolfman, Lon Chaney in 1941 was the most terrifying of creatures on the screens. With the Mummy, Dracula and Frankenstein, The Wolfman terrified the masses and gave berth to waves upon waves of werewolves and wolfmen to follow after. Lon Chaney, We speak your name.

8) The Dog Soldiers- A miltary outfit of super soldiers who cannot be controlled and escape during the experiments, soldiers with the killing, cunning of a werewolf. Sounds cool huh? Well not many people saw the underground cult hit which the Dog Soldiers was, there also came a sequel or 2 I believe but I never saw those.

7) Underworld– Ah, it had been awhile since a nice solid Werewolf protagonist came out and kicked some ass. Well thats exactly what the Underworld series did, getting scarily too close to a bunch of super fast cartoon bears when in hoards the Lycans (short for the affliction the victim suffers from Lycanthrope), they made an amazing CG transformation for the first transforming wolves. It was a little too quick for me, but gorgeous? Hell yeah they did a good job with the lycans converting from man to beast.

6) The Howling- Released the same year as AWIL, Howling was AB-SO-LUTE-LY terrible!!! The den of werewolves looked like an orgy for FURRIES!!! All the monsters looked like they were magic kingdom zipper suits! But the main wolfy was a sight to behold…If only the human actors were as good as the monsters.

5) The Wolfman 2010– Benicio Del Toro owned this film! Having played Duke The Dog Faced Boy in Big Top Pee Wee he was primed and ready to play the Wolfman twenty something years later. The new Wolfman had one of the BEST and most elegantly horrific transformation scenes in Werewolf movie history, I’m saying it set a new bar. Following that scene is also bloody slaughter/decapitation fest that indulges us horror fans with a nice bellyful of blood that sates your horror appetite.

4) The Monster Squad– I Actually had REAL nightmares about this Wolfman! This movie proved there’s only one way to kill a werewolf, no dynamite, no accident with power tools, no old age, or a swift kick to the nards…Just a silver bullet. Even though this Wolfman is working with a gang of monsters including The Mummy, the Gillman, Dracula and Frankenstein he showed us that he was the scariest. Making this a kids/Goonies type of movie made it lacking in gore, which is a hold back for horror fanatics but, the scare factor was huge when you were 8.

3) Silver Bullet– Steven King’s step into the werewolf genre was based off his short story “Cycle of the Werewolf”, starring the late Corey Haim, this Werewolf looked liked a werebear. However the scariest part of this Werewolf was what they didn’t show you, he was always off screen and like Jaws, was scariest when just the menacing music attacked you, or a flash of the wolves face at a window.

2) An American Werewolf in London- The one that started it all. Having at the time, the most high tech transformation magic in the world, monster maven Rick Baker turned one man’s transformation into one of the most terrifying scenes in horror movie history. I was transfixed and horrified even at age 3, I sat their in shock and awe, watching the blood spatter and heads roll. This wolf BIT OF PEOPLES HEADS!!! Not only terrifying in transformation but to behold, he was one of the scariest looking werewolves of all time.

1) Wax Work- The number one slot goes to the werewolf you’ve probably never seen. The Werewolf in the TERRIBLY amazing 80’s film Wax Work was a strange looking, and eccentric winner. He turned a teen into a werewolf in mere seconds and tore one of his victims in TWO PIECES!! Bloody good show if you ask me. At 8 years old, one of the biggest mistakes I made was watching this film knowing full well my weakness for horror. Too in love to turn away, but once bedtime rolled around, too afraid to stay in my own bed. The scene that always stuck with me, was when he crushed a guy in a wheelchairs head like a pumpkin! That’s the kind of Werewolf to take number 1!!!!!

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